


A Crack in the Looking Glass

by NotoriousMalice



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Alternate Universe, Good decepticons, M/M, MegaScream - Freeform, Misadventures, Shattered Glass, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-01-11 03:17:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18421707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotoriousMalice/pseuds/NotoriousMalice
Summary: After discovering a strange object while on a mission, Jack, Raf And Miko find themselves in a very different reality. The Decepticons they have feared for years take them into their care, while the Autobots who they've come to love attempt to destroy them. With no explanation as to how they arrived in this new universe, the children must work with their new companions to figure it out, and are sure to learn a lot about the cons on the way.What links are there between this universe and their own? How can they get home? And since when did Megatron give a damn about Starscream?





	1. And so it begins...

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first work on Ao3. Chapters should get longer as the story goes on. I hope you enjoy! (P.s. Sorry if it's a bit crap, this is me just venting the shit that plays out in my head)

“This should be the spot…” mumbled Arcee, staring at the bleeping device in her hand. 

“Maybe it’s in here?” The two wheeler glanced up to see her human companion pointing at a small cave. Jack smiled and began walking into the cave. Arcee bent down and began climbing through the small entrance to the cave. Behind her, Bumblebee and Bulkhead transformed, placing their corresponding charges beside them. 

“Why would some old cave be setting of Ratchet’s energon detector?” Beeped Bumblebee, moving to follow the others into the cave. 

“Maybe its another mine?” Raf stated, running after his yellow companion. 

Eventually, all six beings found themselves inside the small cave, glaring at the dead end before them. Arcee growled and hit the bleeping device against her other hand. “Scrap, there’s nothing here!”

All the bots groaned simultaneously, with Bulkhead immediately moving to perch himself on a nearby rock. 20 Earth minutes ago Ratchet had picked up a strange energon signal close to the high school where the bots were waiting to pick up their charges. They had been sent to investigate after Ratchet confirmed the situation to not be dangerous and told that Prime and Smokescreen would join them as soon as they returned from their patrol, with Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack ground bridging with them.   
Usually the bots would’ve ground bridged Jack, Miko and Raf back to base before investigating and bought the other bots straight to the location, but recently their energon supplies had been running extremely low. The decepticons were becoming more and more aggressive in their attacks, and it was really taking a toll on the bots. In the last week they had lost all three of the energon mines they had fought so fiercely to protect, dampening the spirits of the entire team, and leaving them with extremely low fuel levels. If this signal did lead them to a new mine, it would be a serious boost to the exhausted team’s morale. 

“Maybe it was just some kind of glitch” Bulkhead suggested, slumping over where he sat.

“If it is Bulk, I’m holding you responsible. You probably broke it” Arcee joked, causing those gathered in the cave to laugh. On the ground, Jack spotted a small crack in a nearby wall. Kicking up some dirt, he moved to investigate and found a hole that seemed just about small enough to crawl through. The small tunnel was dark but right at the end the boy swore he could just about make out some kind of metal object.

“Hey guys!” Jack exclaimed, “I think I found something down here”

Interested, the bots began turned around, and Miko and Raf ran up behind Jack to peer into the strange hole. 

“What is it?” asked Arcee as she bent down, attempting to see into the hole. It quickly became apparent that none of the bots were small enough to see down the hole, never mind put a hand inside to investigate. Bulkhead hoisted himself up and moved to stand next to Bumblebee, watching as the children all peered into the opening.

“Woah, yeah! There is definitely something in there!” Miko exclaimed, “Come on Bulk, lets smash this rock out the way” The large green bot grinned and transformed his hand into his customary wrecking ball, but was stopped by Arcee before he could move towards the wall. 

“How about no. If that’s something valuable and you break it Ratchet will have your head” She explained. “Can you guys see what it is or like reach it?”

“I mean, we could try” said Jack. He bent down, looking apprehensively at the tunnel.

“I can go!” Miko shouted, barging her way past Jack and wriggling into the tunnel with a huge grin plastered to her face. Jack stared after her bewildered and looked to Raf, who simply shrugged before looking back down the hole. 

“Can you reach it?” he asked, adjusting his glasses so that he could see the young girl in the dark. Next to him Jack lowered himself once again and peered into the hole. 

“Yup, well just about” came a strained voice from inside the tunnel. 

“Be careful Miko!” shouted Bulkhead. 

“Don’t worry man, I got this” She yelled back, just as she reached the glinting metal. Before her sat a shoebox, size device covered in dust. On one side there was some kind of fan, surrounded by dark purple casing, while the other side just looked like a hunk of metal with a few broken wires sticking out at very precarious angles. “Uh, it looks like some kind of mini engine, I dunno”

Raf shifted at the mouth of the tunnel, attempting to get a better look, while the bots behind him bent down in a futile attempt to figure out what Miko had found. 

“Don’t touch it Miko” Jack exclaimed, peering down the tunnel, “it could be dangerous. Let one of the bots get it out!”

“Ah Jack don’t be such a spoil sport” she replied, laughing. Carefully, the girl reached out and touched the device. Nothing happened. The metal was cool to the touch, and her fingers cleared small lines of dust as she ran them across the smooth surface. Eagerly, she grabbed the metal with her other hand and began pulling. Without much resistance, the box was dislodged from its hiding spot, but a few screws fell back into the hole that it had resided in, obviously having come loose during its time in the tunnel.

“Got it!” Miko grinned, rotating the device in her hand. It didn’t look particularly special, but hey, she was the hero of this mission. She quickly shuffled and just about managed to turn around in the enclosed space, only to be met with the curious faces of her fellow humans. Smiling, she lifted the device again and shook it slightly to show the boys, who gave her a thumbs up. Pushing the device along in front of her, she began making her way towards the entrance. 

She didn’t hear the click…  
And by the time she realised something was happening, it was far too late.

A bright flash of yellow light suddenly filled the tunnel, as the whirl of an engine starting up echoed through the cave. Within a second the light had spread to the front of the tunnel, engulfing both Raf and Jack. Electricity seemed to dance along the children’s’ skin, causing all the hairs on their bodies to stand on end, but before anything could be said or done, the light vanished. 

 

But, so did the children.


	2. A Whole New World

Groaning, Jack opened his eyes. It felt as if someone had hit him around the head with a crowbar. He couldn’t remember where he was, nor what had happened. Above him was the dark grey stone of a cave, with various cracks etched across it. Carefully, the boy sat up and began remembering where he was. The cave! They’d been looking for the source of the energon spike! 

Panicking, the boy looked around and found both Miko and Raf lying next to him. But where had the autobots gone? And what the hell was that massive flash of light? He quickly pushed himself up and moved to help his companions, who appeared to be waking up. 

“Urrgh” Miko groaned “What the hell happened?”

“No clue” admitted Jack, giving the lithe girl a hand up before turning to Raf who was already stood and staring at the cave around them.

“Where’s Bee and the others?” the youngest boy asked, confusion lacing his features. 

“Again, really not sure. Maybe they decided to go outside?” Jack commented, beginning to move towards the entrance of the cave. 

“And leave us alone in here? That doesn’t seem like something they’d do, does it?” Raf mumbled, beginning to cautiously follow the older boy to the entrance of the cave with Miko bounding along beside him. 

Suddenly, a large crash sounded from outside the cave! As the children reached the front of the cave they could begin hearing the distinct hum of blaster fire. There was definitely some kind of skirmish going on outside. 

“Oh scrap, decepticons!” whispered Jack. The older boy quickly dragged his companions behind a large boulder next to the entrance of the cave. “We're in big trouble!”

Peeking out from over the top of the rock, Miko scanned the scene in front of them. About 200 metres in front of them, Optimus prime was stood alongside Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumble bee and Smokescreen shooting and taking cover behind various other boulders scattered around the battlefield. On the far side of the clearing, Miko spotted the decepticons returning fire. 

Beneath her, Raf began thumbing with his cell phone. Hands shaking, he attempted to connect with Ratchet’s comm link but failed. He tried again, attempting in vain to reach any of the autobots. Every time there was no signal found at all.  
“Oh no” He whispered. “Guys I can’t get hold of any of the bots”

“It’s fine” said Miko, still staring out across the battlefield. “We can just shout them, right? Let them know that were here?”

“They probably left us in the cave to keep us safe” realised Jack, rubbing his hands over his face. “Come on, we’ve got to get back inside!” He stood up, signalling for the others to follow him.  
“We can’t!” exclaimed Raf, attempting to grab at Jack’s wrist. “What if the cons see us?”

“We just gotta be quick, it’s our only option Raf. We aren’t safe here” Jack argued, grabbing the smaller boys hand. “Trust me, we’ll be fine” Begrudgingly, Raf nodded, and allowed himself to be led by the older boy. Miko dropped down from her viewing spot and positioned herself beside them. 

“Ready?” asked Jack. The other two nodded, and they ran forwards. 

All three sprinted with all their strength and made it halfway across the clearing before being forced to stop. In front of them, a blue vehicon had stepped into their path, but appeared not to have noticed them, as he kept firing at the enemy. Holding back screams, the children quickly ran around his pede, away from the cave. Jack panted, his lungs burning as he attempted to lead the other two away from danger. He had to get the bots attention!

“Optimus!” He screamed, running away from the vehicon, and towards the large red and blue leader. The tall bot slowly turned around, noticing the small humans running towards him. 

“Pathetic squishes…” He hummed, raising his gun towards the three and causing them to stop in their tracks, eyes wide in horror. “You are not worthy to speak my name!”  
His blaster fired up, red swirling around its barrel as its sights came to rest on the children. 

A shot sounded.


	3. An Unexpected Saviour

Megatron was exhausted. He glanced sideways and saw soundwave shooting beside him, a small trail of energon starting to run down his leg from where a shot had just barely missed some vital wiring. On his other side, Dreadwing and Skyquake were standing on top of a boulder and shooting down at the charging autobots before them, but their movements were growing sloppy and the shots of the enemy were barely missing their clumsy dodges. They couldn’t continue like this, they had to retreat. The autobots had them pinned down and the mine was lost, they needed to regroup on the nemesis and repair the team.

Just as he was about to call for a retreat, he noticed three small figures running towards the autobots. Humans! Why on Earth were there humans here? Soundwave had assured him there were no human residences in 100 miles. Scrap!

Panic swirled in his spark as he heard his rivals name shouted weakly across the battlefield. No! He began running towards the Prime as he turned around but knew deep down that he wouldn’t make it. Optimus raised his gun that powered up and was aimed directly at the humans.

Suddenly, a silver flash swooped down, landing in bipedal mode and sheltering the humans from the Prime. 

A shot sounded, and a pained screech filled the air. Megatron collided with the Prime, managing to knock him off balance so that they both landed on the hard floor with a grunt. Avoiding a shot from the autoboot, he wrestled the Prime’s gun arm down and attempted to pin the bot beneath him. 

Jack was silent. Shock having overrun his system. Optimus had just tried to shoot them… He raised his gun and… What? The shot had fired but it didn’t hit them. Somehow, they had been knocked on their asses and were being held in a giant servo. Next to him, Miko and Raf also remained completely silent, staring at their unlikely saviour. 

“Scrap” cursed Starscream, cradling the small organics in his hand, being careful not to catch them on his claws. “What on Cybertron were you thinking? You could’ve died!” The seeker begun running back towards his fighting companions, attempting to duck behind cover as he ran. His wing was on fire, the agony was almost too much to handle. His vision blurred with pain, but he pushed it aside. Just had to get away, put one foot in front of the other. It’d be fine. 

He clumsily glanced over his shoulder and saw Megatron being thrown violently off the Prime. Scrap! This was not good at all. Behind him, Optimus stood up, converting one of his is blasters into a deadly sword. 

“You’re a fool Megatron” he growled “You would allow one of your own men to be shot for insects” Megatron groaned on the ground, climbing up onto his knees and staring up at the Prime. “You will watch them die. All of them” Prime proclaimed. He raised the sword towards the grey bot sprawled before him, while aiming his remaining blaster at Starscream’s retreating figure. 

Ignoring the sword right in front of him, Megatron followed the path of the blaster and was overcome with fear once he identified its target. Without thinking, he grabbed the sword with his bare servos, gripping it hard enough to draw a slick line of energon across his palm. But, thankfully, his pull knocked the Primes shot off course, causing it to land next to the retreating fliers left pede.

“Decepticons, retreat!” He shouted with all his might, slicing a thick gouge out of his servo to knock Prime off balance. Without any hesitation he spun and began running back towards his team mates. The smaller Autobot growled as he regained his balance. 

“Don’t let them escape” He shouted, rage burning in his red optics. The autobot soldiers around him surged forwards, attempting to follow the retreating figures of the decepticons. Smokescreen transformed into vehicle mode and began racing towards Starscream’s leaking figure. 

Running back across the battlefield, Megatron glanced across to see the small sports car trailing his second. The fliers eyes were full of panic as he ran towards the others, his wing leaking profusely and leaving a slick blue trail on the floor. Megatron raised his cannon and fired at the pursuer whilst continuing to sprint, knowing the Prime would surely be right behind him. He missed, but the bot was forced to swerve to avoid the shot, allowing Starscream to gain a good 100 metres on the car. 

“Soundwave” Megatron yelled, “bridge!”

In front of him, lines and lines of green cybertronian code popped up on the intelligence officers visor and a swirling mass of green appeared just behind the spindly blue bot. Soundwave turned to look at the bridge, then back at his leader, before turning and running through. Beside him, both Dreadwing and Skyquake jumped off the rock they had been shooting from, transformed and followed their comrade through the bridge. 

Megatron continued towards the swirling mass, glancing briefly over his shoulder to see a dozen Autobots barely a hundred metres behind him, shooting like there was no tomorrow. Turning back to the bridge, he saw his wounded second glance at him before finally jumping through the bridge, holding three small figures in his servos. 

Relief flooded through Megatron. His team was safe, it would be fine. Panting he reached the space bridge, sliding through just as the blue swirl began to fade. 

From the other side of the battlefield, Optimus Prime glared murderously at the spot where the bridge had opened. The fools had let him escape. Again. Beside him, a small bot approached, converting his gun back into a regular servo. 

“Prime? What do we do now? At least we have the mine, right? There’s enough energon here to last us a good month” asked the vehibot, voice barely more than a whisper. 

The Prime raised his gun once more and shot him straight through the spark. An angered growl escaped from this throat and his eyes never left the spot where the Decepticons had escaped.


	4. Boarding the Nemesis

Jack didn’t know what to do. 

They emerged from the other side of the bridge to the unfamiliar sight of the Nemesis. He glanced across at his companions beside him, both of whom will staring at the cons around them with open mouths. Above him, Starscream was panting, his optics dimming slightly every now and then. He was being held… By Starscream! Starscream had rescued them. What on Earth was going on?

Slowly, the claws around the three children uncurled as Starscream moved to look down at them.  
“You’re safe now, humans. It’s fine, we are all fine” He whispered shakily, appearing to be in some form of dazed state. Megatron suddenly appeared over the fliers shoulder, placing a steadying hand on the smaller bots shoulder. 

“Give them here Starscream” he murmured, motioning for the flier to pass him the children, who were staring up at him in horror. The seeker slowly turned to face the war lord, eyes wide and questioning. Behind him, Knockout and Breakdown burst onto the bridge panting. Noticing the scene before them, they remained silent and Knockout alone began to approach the SIC. 

“You’re injured” Megatron motioned towards Starscream’s wing, that was now stained blue with energon. “I will look after the humans, allow knockout to fix you up” Jack stared up at the grey robot, he had never heard anything spoken so calmly by the warlord. His brain hurt. Too much was going on. Since when was Megatron nice to Starscream? And why would he ever want to ‘protect’ humans?

Starscream slowly looked down at his hand, looked back up at his leader, and then slowly slid the three children into the huge grey servo being presented to him. The children allowed themselves to be passed to the larger bot, shuffling to avoid the thick slice that was missing from the mechs hand and the energon that was leaking from it. Megatron tilted his head towards Knockout, motioning for him to help. The red sports car approached cautiously, gently touching the seeker’s back as he began guiding the dazed seeker towards the med bay, with Breakdown following closely behind him. The automatic door opened, and Knockout turned backwards just before leaving. 

“Perhaps Soundwave should come to” he stated, staring concernedly at the TIC. Soundwave briefly glanced down at his leg. The wound had begun to heal, his self-repair kicking in, but there was still a considerable amount of energon spread around it. Yeah, maybe. He looked up at Megatron who nodded silently. 

“And what about your servo?” Knockout asked, now staring at the tall mech. Megatron glanced down at his servos which were indeed covered in blood, and immediately regretted requesting that he carried the children. The wound was deep, but not anywhere near life threatening, he could patch it up in his own time. Shaking his head, he returned his gaze to the medic and waved him away. 

Knockout nodded solemnly, turning back towards the door and leaving the bridge alongside Starscream. Breakdown waited for Soundwave before the two followed behind them. 

“What in Primus is going on?” Miko whispered harshly into Jack’s ear. The boy quickly turned away from the retreating Decepticons and stared at her. The girl’s face was paler than he’d ever seen it, with eyes pleading with Jack for some kind of explanation. Beside her, Raf was holding his hands, attempting to stop them shaking as he tried to shuffle further up the grey mechs servo to avoid the slow spread of energon. 

Shakily, the eldest boy stood up, guiding Miko up with him, and turned to look the mech holding them in the eyes. Megatron looked down on them, his sparkling blue optics seeming to emit some form of genuine concern. Standing tall, Jack calmed himself and began to speak. 

“What are you going to do to us?” He cursed himself when his voice broke slightly, his hands began to shake with nervousness. The grey mech above him looked slightly surprised.

“You have nothing to fear from us, humans. We will not harm you” the war lord stated, his voice even and calm. Before, Jack could stop her, Miko regained her courage and pushed past him. 

“Don’t lie to us Decepticreeps! The autobots won’t give you anything for us!” she shouted “They will come and get us back.”

A shocked expression came over Megatron’s face and he reeled back slightly. 

“You are companions of the Autobots?”

“You’re damn right we are!” Miko shouted, as Jack stared at her in disbelief. “They’ll scrap you all for this!”

“Human, you must trust me” Megatron started, “whatever promises the Autobots have made you, they are lying. They do not care for you kind and are only here to conquer and enslave your world. You must believe me when I say that they cannot be trusted, you will be safer with us”

“What?” Miko questioned, eyebrows creasing slight. 

“My commanders and I only came to this planet to seek a haven after the Autobots destroyed our world” Megatron continued “The Autobots followed us and will stop at nothing to bring our planet back to life, even if it means sacrificing your world.” The three children stood shocked. That was not the right story…

Raf stood behind his companions; you could almost hear the cogs turning in his head as he tried to piece everything together. Tentatively, he stepped between Miko and Jack and stared up at the mech holding them, adjusting his glasses nervously. 

“You said that the Autobots destroyed Cybertron” He stated. Megatron tilted his head slightly.

“I did”

“And you are trying to protect humanity from them?”

“We are my child” stated the war lord. Dreadwing and Skyquake were slowly moving towards their leader, staring interested at the small beings he was holding. Raf slowly turned back around to the other humans. 

“I don’t think we are where we used to be” he said slowly, as Jack and Miko passed him confused glances. “These aren’t the Decepticons that we know…”

“What do you mean?” Asked Jack, his gaze flickering between Raf and Megatron. The small boy slowly turned back to the war lord, who stared at him curiously. 

“Look at Megatron’s optics” Raf explained, gesturing to the warlord “and look at the Decepticon symbol. Its red not purple, just like our Autobots.” Jack and Miko followed Raf’s gestures, and true to his words, realised that his optics were indeed blue.  
“Whoa that’s weird” whispered Miko, eyebrows creasing together. Above them, Megatron also looked fairly confused as he watched the humans interact. 

“We have always had blue optics, it is a sign of the Decepticon cause” he stated, briefly glancing at the twins beside him as they continued to lean in to gain a better view of the humans. 

“But the Decepticons always have red eyes…” murmured Miko disbelievingly. 

“Exactly. They do where we come from” Raf continued “but we aren’t there anymore. When we touched that thing in the cave it must have teleported us somewhere else. Like, a parallel dimension where-”

“Where the decepticons are the good guys!” Jack exclaimed as he locked eyes with Megatron. “That’s crazy but, it’s got to be true right? If this was really Megs we would definitely have been squished by now.” That sentence caused the war lords face to twitch slightly.

“I would never harm a human” Megatron stated, “Never have and never will”

Besides the scene, two excited gasps sounded. Jack turned his head to see Dreadwing staring at them with an open mouthed smile, while Skyquake was practically jumping with eagerness. 

“Oh my Primus! It’s like one of those human sci-fi films” Skyquake exclaimed “They’re from a parallel universe where everything is opposite! Like we are evil and stuff. That’s so cool!”

“But that’s not possible, right?” Dreadwing asked from beside his brother, eyes staring at Megatron for an answer. The older mech looked just as confused as his underlings. He sighed, rubbing his over servo over his head. 

“I honestly have no clue Dreadwing” he said quietly. “No clue. If anyone will know, it’ll be Shockwave or Starscream.” He looked down at the humans and began walking out of the room, with the twins following closely on his tail. “I need to call a meeting. We need to summon everyone to the conference chamber as soon as possible” He stated, calmly beginning to traverse the spacious halls of the Nemesis. 

“Dreadwing, go to the medbay and ask the others to meet me in the conference room. Tell knockout that he, Starscream and Soundwave are only to attend if their wounds have been fully treated, we will replay all information we figure out to them” Megatron stated calmly, “Skyquake, gather everybody else on the ship and meet me there as soon as possible. Tell them all that this is a matter of urgency, only matters that are life threatening take priority”

“Right you are boss man!” exclaimed Skyquake, nudging his brother’s shoulder as the two bounded off in different directions. 

“I am thoroughly freaked out, isn’t he like dead?” whispered Miko, watching Skyquake run giddily away from them. “What the hell is going on!”


	5. Strangers with Familiar Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I just wanted to say that I found this chapter really difficult to write, so I'm sorry if it comes across as a bit forced. It's kinda difficult to explain an AU like shattered glass within the story itself without making it sound robotic and unnatural (or at least I think it is), so I feel like this chapter is pretty weak, but hopefully you'll all still enjoy it! I promise the upcoming chapters will really start digging deeper into the story. Thank you!

Half an hour later, the Humans found themselves stood on a large, round metal table, surrounded by a commune of Decepticons, all of whom they had considered to be merciless killers just that morning. 

After ordering the twins to collect the others, Megatron had proceeded to carry them through the Nemesis before entering a large room. Inside, the children were placed on the table, as the war lord took some metal mesh out of his subspace and began wrapping his injured servos. 

After a short while, an overly excited Skyquake entered to the room, followed by three other Cons. Shockwave entered staring at the data pad he held, his singular optic never leaving the pad as he moved into a chair opposite his leader. Behind him, the gigantic form of Predaking entered the room, his footsteps echoing off the walls. He manoeuvred himself around the table, being careful not to knock any vacant seats over, before settling into a larger chair that was clearly designed for him specifically. Though what surprised the Humans the most was the nervous looking mech who also entered. Arachnid followed the others, taking a seat at the table, but her gaze never stayed in place for more then 10 seconds. She glanced at the humans, then her leader, then the ceiling, in a continuous cycle. Megatron barely acknowledged anyone who entered the room, too focused on patching up his own servos. 

A few minutes passed before the doors opened again to reveal Soundwave, whose leg seemed to have been sealed up, and a rather calm looking Breakdown. Both took a place at the table, leaving only two empty chairs. Having finished applying the mesh to his servos, Megatron passed a look of concern to Soundwave, seemingly asking for reassurance that he had indeed been healed. The intelligence officer nodded wordlessly. Megatron looked briefly down at the children before clearing his vocaliser. 

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” He stated, causing every head in the room to turn immediately to him, apart from Shockwave who remained completely submerged in the world of his data pad. “As you may or may not know, we have a situation. The Autobots have-“

Before Megatron could finish that sentence, a loud crash from the other side of the door caught the attention of all the beings in the room, almost causing a shaky Arachnid to jump straight out of her chair. Jack turned around from his position facing Megatron, just in time to see a very disgruntled looking Seeker barge into the meeting room. 

“Starscream!” The voice of a very unimpressed Knockout shouted, just as his gleaming red frame appeared beside the other in the door way, panting as if he had run all the way here. “I’m not finished! It’s still leaking for Primus’ sake!”

Completely ignoring the medics protests, the flier walked into the conference room. Blue optics followed him as he slid around the table and settled into the seat next to Megatron, eyes staring stubbornly at the grey of the tale before him. Knockout groaned from the door, rubbing his faceplates. From his seat, Megatron stared at his SIC, glancing briefly at his injured wing before breaking the awkward silence that had settled over the room. 

“Starscream…”

“My liege” the Seeker replied; eyes glued to the table before him.

“You were excused from this meeting on medical grounds…” Megatron replied, his voice flat, not betraying any of his emotions. 

“My medical needs have been tended too” Starscream replied, refusing to meet his master’s concerned gaze. 

“They most certainly have not been!” squawked Knockout from the doorway. “I still have a few energon lines to seal and I need to properly fix the dressing on. Your self-repair systems won’t heal it properly if I don’t apply any nanites to it!”

“Starscream...” Megatron said once more, his voice softer this time. Slowly, the flier moved to look up at the mech beside him, eyes wide and guilty. 

“I need to be here” He pleaded “Please. I-I just need to know, okay?” Megatron’s optics locked with the Seeker’s own. He placed a large servo on the other's shoulder. For a second, Jack feared that the war lord would push the Seeker out of his chair and force him back to the med bay, but his hand simply squeezed comfortingly. 

“Okay, you can stay” Megatron whispered, causing a grateful smile to break out over Starscream’s face. “Provided that you allow Knockout to continue tending to your wounds while we talk” The war lord glanced over to the medic, who sighed before nodding. 

“I can patch you up in here Screamer, but I’ll need you to come to the med bay tomorrow for a few extra welds and checks” the doctor commented from the door. Satisfied, Megatron turned back to his second. Starscream’s optics flickered to the medic then back Megatron before he nodded, a small smile creeping onto his face. 

“Thank you, my liege” said Starscream gratefully, lifting his own servo and gently placing it over the top of the war lord’s. A small smile flickered across the grey mech’s faceplate before he retracted his digits and turned back to look at his assembled team. Next to him, Starscream’s gaze lingered on Megatron for a few seconds, staring longingly, before looking back out across the table. 

Knockout began making his way across the room, running his digits over Breakdown’s shoulder as he passed the larger mech before pulling various medical tools out of his subspace. Upon reaching the injured Seeker, the two exchanged a quick smile, before the doctor dropped down and began examining the silver wing before him. 

From down on the table, both Jack and Miko were staring at the Cons with their mouths agape. 

“What on Earth did I just witness...” Whispered Miko, mouth still agape as she watched the red sports car carefully begin scrubbing dry energon from the cringing Seeker’s wing. 

“Things are definitely very different here” muttered Raf, nudging his companions to make them close their mouths. He couldn’t help thinking that they were going to have a lot to learn about this dimension. 

“Right, well now that everyone has arrived” began Megatron “we can begin discussing todays events. Unfortunately, the Autobots have taken mine 013, which reduces us to holding only two mines. While this is a setback, we will manage, for now. Nobody is to take any abrasive action to retake any energon supplies” A series of nods moved around the table. 

“Now, during the fight today we made contact with the Humans you can see before me” Megatron continued, gesturing to the children “However, these Humans are not all that they seem. From what I can gather, these children are from a parallel dimension, in which the Decepticons are evil…” All those seated around the table stared at their leader as if he had gone mad, with Predaking even letting out a small chuckle before realising that Megatron was indeed being serious. 

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room when Megatron failed to continue his explanation. Arachnid twitched, eyeing up the gathered humans suspiciously before looking at the other mechs completely bewildered. From beside Megatron, Starscream craned his neck to attempt to see the Humans better, only to be tssked by the medic working behind him. 

“My liege, surely you can’t be serious” the Seeker murmured questioningly. Taking a deep breath, Megatron cleared his throat.

“I am deadly serious” he stated solemnly, “There is simply no other explanation. These organics know all our names and of the war that we have been fighting, and none of us broken our cover since arriving on this planet.” From the other side of the table, Shockwave lifted his gaze, examining the children. “It is, therefore, our duty as Decepticons to protect these Humans and assure that they are able to return to their own world” 

Those gathered around the table still stared at the children in disbelief, but slowly began nodding and humming in agreement with the warlord’s words. Even Starscream settled back into his seat, hissing slightly as his wing shifted in the wrong direction. An apology was hastily whispered by the medic at his back. On the other side on the table, Shockwave began to lean forwards, optic gleaming with interest. 

“Fascinating” he murmured, scrutinising the children before him. Two seconds later, the scientist realised he had spoken aloud and instantly sat back in embarrassment, as the others began staring at him. “I apologise, but it is amazing, isn’t it? If what Megatron says is true, it proves the existence of other universes conclusively. This is a break through discovery!” The cyclops continued, his optic brightening slightly. “I mean, this has never occurred in the history of the entire universe! Its brilliant. We could be on the verge of a new dawn of science!”

A smile slid onto Megatron’s faceplate, as he nodded along to the scientist’s rant. Eventually, the cyclops stopped his rushed speech, settling back down into his chair self-consciously. 

“Yes Shockwave, it is truly unbelievable” Megatron agreed, before moving to speak directly to the children stood on the table. “Children, I’m sure this is all very overwhelming for you, but I assure you that you will be safe here. I would trust any of the Cybertronians around this table with my life. You are among friends, I implore you to ask us any questions you want.”

Jack examined the War lord’s face plate. This was not the Megatron they knew, he could be sure of that. This Megatron was calm and almost seemed… kind. Beside him, Raf and Miko seemed to quickly be coming to understand that too. They were a long way from home.

“I have a question” voiced Miko, moving a few steps closer to Megatron’s looming figure. “The Autobots in this universe… Do they kill? When Optimus raised his gun to us, would he really have just killed us there and then?” The young girl’s question was laced with sadness, her voice quivering as she spoke. 

“Yes” Catching everyone off guard, the response did not come from Megatron, but instead from Arachnid. “He would have killed you without a second thought. He has done it before. He will do it again.” The femme stated, eyes pinned to the table before her.

“They have taken everything from our people” agreed Megatron, drawing the rooms attention back to him. “And they have killed many of our friends” At that sentence, Arachnid shuffled uncomfortably, attempting to hide the single drop of lubricant that feel from her left optic. Only Jack spotted it, staring in disbelief as his partner’s arch enemy cried before him. He would be sure to try and ask the femme about it at some point, if he got the chance. 

“Do you really think you will be able to get us home?” Raf piped in, turning to face Shockwave, who was still examining the children. Surprised at being addressed, the scientist straightened his posture and nodded. 

“I should think so. I’ll need to know the situation which lead to your arrival on this plane of existence but I’m sure we will be able to figure it out” The cyclops stated, before switching his gaze to the flier beside Megatron. “Starscream, if you would be so kind, I’m sure your expertise would be very valuable in finding a solution to the Humans' predicament.”

“Of course,” Starscream practically shouted from the other side of the table, as Knockout stood up from behind him. The medic took a step back and examined his work, before nodding, placing his tools back into his subspace, and manoeuvring back around the table to settle into the seat next to Breakdown. 

“Well then, it is sorted” Megatron announced happily. “We will find you a way home, but for now we all need to recharge. It has surely been a long day”

“Woah boss!” A silky, smooth voice exclaimed, seemingly out of nowhere. All three children almost collapsed as they turned in the direction of the voice, only to be met with an almost unfamiliar figure. Before them sat Soundwave, Except, his visor was gone! Large blue optics spread light over his features and danced over the large grin plastered to his face. “You haven’t even asked them their designations!”

The Humans stared in shock. Soundwave… Soundwave just spoke! Soundwave he had a face! 

“Scrap, yes of course” Megatron muttered, rubbing a servo over his tired features, “Sorry, it has been an exhausting day. Seeing as you already know ours, would you be so kind as to tell us your designations?” No reply came.

“Are they alright?” asked Soundwave, features crumpling up slightly as the children stared at him. It was Jack who eventually managed to pull himself together and give the intelligence officer a reply. 

“You-You have a face beneath that screen?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, of course I do” laughed Soundwave, staring curiously at the organics before him. 

“And-and you can talk?”

“Well, yeah that’s what I’m doing right now” the mech giggled, before realisation seemed to dawn on him. “Oh scrap, do I not talk where you’re from?”

“No… Never.” Muttered Jack, still staring at the mech incredulity. 

“Wow, that sounds like a pretty good universe. He doesn’t shut up here!” remarked Predaking, triggering both a series of laughs from the gathered mechs and a playful punch in the shoulder from Soundwave himself. 

“Of course, he doesn’t…” whispered Jack, rubbing his hand over his forehead. This could take some getting used to… “Well, I guess I’m Jack”

“You guess?” asked Skyquake from the other side of the table, struggling to hold in a laugh “shouldn’t you know your own designation?” Dreadwing proceeded to elbow his twin for his failed attempt at a Joke. 

“Sorry, I am Jack” Next to him, the other Humans tentatively stepped forwards.

“I’m Miko”

“And I’m Rafael, but everyone calls me Raf”

“Well, it is our pleasure to meet you, Jack, Miko and Raf. I wish it could have been under better circumstances” Megatron said, beginning to stand up from his seat. “Now that that is sorted, we should all go and recharge. Since the three of you have no where to go, I’m sure we will be able to sort out some sort of temporary accommodation…” Megatron looked at his officers for an answer. 

“Give them to Starscream” Soundwave suggested nonchalantly, the unfamiliarity of his voice causing the children to jump slightly. “He’s been collecting loads of stuff from their planet”

“I most certainly have not!” Squawked the Seeker, quickly standing up and flaring his wings. 

“You have, I saw you stashing a load of stuff in your subspace when we were visiting that old factory last week! It’s all hidden in your berth side draw” remarked Soundwave, a knowing smirk covering his face plate as the titled his head towards the flier. A blue tinge slowly rose onto the seeker's features as he bit his lip, attempting to conjure a reply. Before he could though, their leader gently laid a servo on Starscream’s shoulder. 

“Do you have something the Humans could use to recharge in?” Megatron questioned calmly, drawing Starscream’s attention wholly to him, and causing the blush to deepen significantly into a much darker shade of blue. 

“I mean, I” The Seeker stammered, before allowing himself to glance up at his leader. “I’ve been collecting a few things… Purely for cultural investigations!” He added, staring pointedly at the smirking intelligence officer. “But, yes, I’m sure I could find something suitable my liege”

Megatron nodded, smiling down at his second in command. 

“Thank you, Starscream” The Seeker grinned unashamedly at the war lord’s words. “I know that the Humans will be safe in your care. Now, let us all retire for the night. We will continue any further discussions in the morning.” 

Those gathered in the room nodded, stood from their seats and slowly began filtering from the room. Shockwave went back to typing rapidly on his data pad, as Dreadwing and Skyquake eagerly began racing outside. Behind them, Knockout slid his servo into Breakdown’s and stood on the tips of his pedes to whisper something into his audial, before they both left the room grinning. 

Eventually, all the Decepticons had left the meeting room, Starscream watching as they went. The silver flier then turned towards his new charges and smiled nervously. 

“Well then, off we go I guess...”


	6. Settling into the Mirrorverse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your support everyone! Hope you enjoy some exploration upon the Nemesis :)

After the meeting, the children were carried back to Starscream’s quarters, still looking slightly dumbfounded at the entire situation. The flier’s room was practically bare. There was a large double berth to the left of the sliding door, with a fairly large bedside table at either side. The wall opposite the door was made entirely of purple tinged glass, giving way to a view of Jasper below, and a large desk stood to the right of the entrance. Said desk was covered in abandoned data pads and what looked like test tubes and other forms of Cybertronian science equipment. 

Starscream placed the three Humans down on his desk gently, swiping away some of the pads and causing them to clatter onto the floor, before skittishly returning to his beside table and rummaging around. A few minutes later, Starscream turned back to the Humans, carrying various objects in his servos. 

“I must apologise, it isn’t much, but its all I have for now” Starscream bent down and deposited a roll mat, a mattress and an inflatable lilo, head shaking in apology. “I know that this wouldn’t be your chosen sleeping materials, but I’m sure some of us will be able to conjure up some more practical equipment tomorrow.” He then picked up a nearby data pad and positioned it upright before waving his hand on one side to assure the material wasn’t transparent. “I am also aware of you Human… Excretions.” He continued, cringing in embarrassment as he placed a small bucket and a pack of A4 paper down behind the makeshift wall. “Again, I’m so sorry. These were only meant to be things to examine, I didn’t expect…”

The flier trailed off, guilt seeming to wash over his features as, he gazed ashamedly at the items he had produced. The children stared at their makeshift camp awkwardly. It was Jack who eventually turned around and sighed. 

“It’s fine Starscream” he said, causing the seeker’s frame to relax slightly. “This has been a shock for all of us, thanks for agreeing to take the three of us in.”

“Oh no, its my pleasure” the seeker replied, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “Well, I guess I should leave you guys to recharge. I’ll, um, see you in the morning I guess…” The children all nodded in unison before bidding the flier ‘goodnight’. 

Starscream settled into his berth, as the children settled down into their various beds, with Jack taking the mattress, Raf on the roll mat, and Miko lounging happily on the lilo. The children fell asleep straight away, their lights going out almost as soon as their heads hit their various ‘pillows’, exhausted from a truly overwhelming day. Only Jack remained awake.

Thoughts were running through his head at two hundred miles an hour, seeming to bounce off one another and collide violently. Nothing made sense. How had they ended up here? What had happened to the Autobots they knew? Would they be able to get home? Were they really safe here? He sighed, forcing himself to admit that he really couldn’t answer any of those questions, and rolled onto his side, gaze drifting out of Starscream’s gigantic window. For a while he simply laid in silence, watching the ground slowly move miles away and listening to the low hum of the Nemesis’s engines. Maybe it was all a dream. Maybe they’d wake up tomorrow morning and be back home… And it was that thought that lulled the boy to sleep. 

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The following morning, the children woke up.

Unfortunately, they woke up in Starscream’s unfamiliar quarters, with an empty berth sitting across from them.

Scrap. Not a dream then…

Miko was the first to stand, practically falling off the lilo, that had deflated slightly during the night. 

“Man, that’s definitely not as comfortable as I thought it would be…” she mumbled, rubbing her lower back before moving to investigate the rest of Starscream’s still cluttered desk. “Kinda gutted we didn’t wake up back home though. Wonder how Bulk is doing…”

"I'm sure our Autobots are fine” Jack replied, slowly rising up from the mattress, “Maybe they’ll even be able to bring us back before we figure it out.”

“You think?” asked Miko, pacing the desk in an attempt to hide her woes. Jack shrugged.

“You never know. But for now, the best thing we can do for them is try and get back” Miko nodded, smiling at the older boy before excusing herself. Standing up slowly, Jack stretched his muscles, bathing in the golden light that was now flooding through the gargantuan window. Sighing, he walked over to the roll mat nearby, bending down and placing a hand on Rafael’s shoulder to shake him awake. “Raf, time to wake up buddy.”

“Whaa…” mumbled the small figure, rolling over to get away from the hand intruding his sleep.

“Come on, we gotta get up” Jack muttered, continuing to shake the boy awake. The younger boy groaned in annoyance, reaching his arm away from his body to pick up his glasses from next to his mat. Placing them onto his face, he sat up slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust. He briefly stared at the room around him in confusion, before finally remembering where they were, causing the sides on his mouth to dip down into a small frown. Sighing disappointedly, he turned to face the older boy beside him.

“Still here then?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry. Looks like the madness is going to continue…”

Just then, the large automated door opened next to the desk, with Starscream stepping through. His silver armour gleamed in the morning light, with small rainbows appearing on the ceiling from where it reflected off the small droplets of solvent were clinging to his frame. The flier looked calm, peaceful even, until he turned to his right and almost jumped out of his armour, when he saw figures moving on his table. Miko snorted, moving out from around the side of the data pad wall and returning to her companions.

“Did we make you jump there, Screamer?” She sniggered, a smirk sliding onto her face. Blinking rapidly, Starscream composed himself, smiled nervously and began walking over to the desk. 

“Just a tad. Sorry, I’m not used to anyone being in here except me” The seeker settled down into his seat. “How did you all recharge well?”

“Not really” groaned Miko, cautiously moving closer to the Seeker. “Don’t think pool lilos are made as overnight accommodation.” 

Above them, Starscream’s wings lowered slightly, a sad frown settling on his features.

“But, that’s not your fault, obviously” Jack chimed in, rushing forwards and sending a wicked glare at the teen girl beside him. “It was great Starscream” A fake smile flashed briefly on the flier’s faceplates, before he slowly lowered his servo and motioned for the children to step aboard. The older children carefully clambered on, then Jack gave Raf a hand so that he could to stand comfortably on the metal plating. 

“What’s the plan for today?” asked Raf, using his arms to balance himself as the giant Cybertronian began to stand up. 

“Well” Starscream began, glancing at the children to assure he was holding them safely, before starting to move towards the door. “Shockwave and I have been excused from our usual duties and will instead be working in my lab” Jack couldn’t help but notice the eager smile that graced Starscream’s face when he mentioned his lab. “We are going to look at the energy signatures surrounding the battle in which we found you. Look for anything odd and try to correlate it with any energy surges that we are already aware of. If a match comes up, we should theoretically be able send you home. However, a lot of our data was lost when we came to this planet, so it’s a bit of a long shot…”

“Awesome!” Miko exclaimed “So, we get to like, come and do alien robot science with you guys?”

“Ah, unfortunately not…” Starscream apologised, as he weaved through the seemingly never-ending halls of the nemesis. “Lord Megatron commed me this morning to say that he would rather the three of you stayed away from our work unless your input is absolutely necessary. Sorry” Miko deflated slightly, crossing her arms and grumbling under her breath. “To be fair, we are running lots of other experiments at the moment and we don’t know if any of the products could be hazardous to you, so its probably for the best, Miko”

Miko rolled her eyes and turned to look at the hallways before them. The Nemesis was quiet, almost eerily so; they appeared to be the only ones traversing its halls. However, that could also just be because of how huge the ship itself was.  
“So, what are we doing today the, Starscream?” asked Raf.

“We thought it would be best if Knockout was to look you over” Starscream stated, turning around yet another corner. “He may not know a whole lot about Human biology, but Lord Megatron wishes for you all to be checked for any unseen injuries that may have occurred due to your crossing over.” The children stared at the flier, confused.

“When you say he doesn’t know a whole lot…” repeated Jack, “Are you sure he actually knows anything about Humans?” Starscream looked down at him, slightly shocked at his condescending statement, before straightening up and stopping in front of a large, plain door. 

“Knockout will do his best, as we all will. He is a good bot, he will keep you safe, there’s nothing to worry about.” With that, Starscream stepped forwards, and the purple door slid open, to reveal what appeared to be the Med Bay. 

Knockout jumped as the door open, quickly pushing Breakdown away from him and ceased speaking whatever words were being whispered into the other bots audial. The cherry red mech spun around, an innocent smile spreading across his faceplate. The blue mech behind him stared at his partner for a second before nodding to the figures in the door and turning around to begin typing on the console behind him. 

“Starscream!” Knockout exclaimed, approaching the silver mech, who had also allowed a small smile to spread across his faceplates. “You’re early!”

“It’s 9am, Knockout” Starscream replied “I’m actually exactly on time.”

“Well, fair enough then” Knockout completely ignored the children being held in the flier’s hand and began moving to look at Starscream’s back.” How’s the wing doing? Any pain or glitches during the night” Knockout asked, staring at the appendage with genuine concern. Starscream sighed and walked forwards slightly, so that he could gently place the Humans down on a nearby medical berth. 

“It’s fine, Knockout” He replied, assuring the children were safely out of his grasp before turning to face the sports car. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome” Knockout grinned. “You’ll be getting to the lab now then, I suspect?”

“Yes” Starscream muttered, gracefully sliding back towards the door. “I trust you will be able to look after Miko, Jack and Raf until I return this evening?”

“Of course, we can!” Knockout said, patting the Seeker on the shoulder, despite the way Starscream shied away from the touch. “Won’t we, Breakdown?”

“Uh huh” grunted the blue mech, turning away from the screen to smile kindly at the Humans before giving Knockout a thumbs up. 

“See, they’ll be fine.” The doctor assured Starscream, a smug grin plastering itself across his face plates. “Besides, you need to be in the lab. Who knows, maybe our Lord will even pop into see how your investigation is progressing. I’m sure he’d love to watch you work…” The way the medic exaggerated the last word and wiggled an optic ridge did not go unnoticed by the three children. 

Starscream blushed and cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I’m sure Lord Megatron will be very busy. He’s an important mech. There wouldn’t be time for such distractions!” Starscream stumbled over his words, quickly sliding out of the room and turning back to give a short nod to the doctor. “I, um, I’ll see you later” He muttered, before nodding at the children and swiftly retreating down the hallways of the ship. With a swoosh, the electronic doors slid shut. 

A second later, Knockout broke out into a fit of laughter, with Breakdown chuckling slightly behind him. Jack, Miko and Raf stared at the two in confusion. “What’s so funny?” the youngest boy enquired. Knockout quickly wiped away the drop of coolant that had accumulated at the edge of his optics, before turning around to face his partner and the children. Unfortunately, as soon as he caught sight of Breakdown’s giggling form, he burst out into enough fit of laughter, bending over slightly to clutch his stomach tanks.

“Whoa, come on!” Miko exclaimed, moving towards the Mechs “Tell us!” Breakdown shook his head, stepped forwards, and nudged the red medic. Knockout straightened himself up and looked at the children before him. 

“Nothing” he replied, a smirk sliding onto his faceplates, “Starscream’s just got it so bad.”

“Got what bad?” asked Raf, eyes staring at the bot inquisitively. Knockout chuckled slightly, waving the children off before turning around and picking up a device from a nearby workbench. 

“Don’t worry about it” He muttered, turning back to the children, “I’m sure you’ll see soon enough. But for now, we should get down to business. He winked at the kids and lifted the device to scan them. “How’re you all feeling today? I’m guessing Starscream’s collection wasn’t exactly the same as a five-star hotel?” Miko groaned slightly, rubbing her lower back as she remembered the pain from the night before, Jack glanced at her before replying. 

“I guess it could’ve been better, but it was okay.”

“Good to hear” the medic replied, moving the device slowly between the children. 

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room as the doctor worked. His eyes flittered quickly between his device and children. Lifting his servo expectantly, Breakdown passed him a data pad from a nearby work space, which he quickly began typing on. Jack shifted awkwardly under the red mechs scrutiny, while Raf strained in an attempt to look at what the mech was typing and what exactly the device in his hand was doing. Next to them, Miko couldn’t help but stare at Breakdown as he watched Knockout worked. All those stories Bulkhead had told her, all those stories of war, fighting and murder. They weren’t true here… This mech certainly wasn’t her friend’s rival, she mused, examining the way his kind gaze seemed to track Knockout’s every movement.  
After a good, few minutes, Breakdown rolled his eyes, and grabbed Knockout’s hand before he could begin poking the Humans. 

“You’re making it weird, Knocks” he stated flatly, smiling at the befuddled mech staring up at him. “Talking is pretty fun, you know. Staring and poking at them isn’t going to make them feel comfortable, is it?” Hastily, Knockout nodded, sliding his servo out of the others hand and turning to face the children, servo rubbing his neck awkwardly. 

“Ah, sorry” Knockout mumbled apologetically, “Usually my patients are unconscious” Breakdown placed a comforting hand on the small of the Decepticons back and glanced down at the children. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep him in check” said the blue mech, smiling at the children, “My lovely conjunx here tends to get lost in his work a tad, don’t worry.” The children nodded, relaxing slightly. 

“Sorry” Knockout repeated, “I just wanted to concentrate extra hard. Your species aren’t exactly my speciality, but I’ll do my best. My knowledge isn’t exactly the best.” Beside him, Breakdown bumped their hips together, before moving to pick something up from next to the room’s control console. 

“Yeah, but you know a fair bit” he retorted, “You stayed up all last night reading about it”

“Yes, well, there’s only so much you can learn from the internet” Knockout grumbled. He then turned to look at the children and panicked when he noticed how their skin had paled slightly. “No, I don’t mean it like that! Honestly, this is just a check-up. Completely safe. I know what I’m doing, I promise!” 

Jack swallowed thickly, before sighing doubtfully and sitting himself down on the medical berth. Miko and Raf followed his lead, shuffling to get comfortable on the hard metal surface despite their concerns. Knockout relaxed somewhat above them, as Breakdown returned to his side carrying yet another data pad. 

“Right, so all I’m going to do is run a few tests, but you guys don’t need to do anything” Knockout smiled, lowering himself to his knees so that the children were at his eye level. “I also need to just ask you all some basic questions, then that should be about it. Have you got any questions before we begin?” Miko and Jack nodded at the medic’s words, before smiling and signalling for the medic to continue. 

Next to them, Raf glanced between the two mechs, confusion lacing his features, before adjusting his glasses and clearing his throat. “Um, I have a quick question”

“Of course,” replied Knockout.

“What’s a conjunx?”


	7. Med Bay Mishaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm really sorry but I'm currently in exam season at University so updates won't be coming particularly fast. Please bear with me, there's so much more to come! I hope you all enjoy, thank you so much for reading. Your kudos and comments really make my day.

A loud crash sounded from a nearby workbench. 

All eyes instantly flew to where Breakdown had obviously knocked over a pile of data pads and was now attempting to pick them up, cussing in Cybertronian under his breath.

Knockout chucked. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Breakdown look so flustered. A slight tinge of blue rose to the mechs cheeks, as he began stuttering slightly, his digits twitching slightly as he tried to pick up the various scattered pads. Breakdown looked almost as uncomfortable as Megatron had when Soundwave had enthusiastically played him some Earth music and begged for his opinion. Knockout had to admit that Soundwave’s taste in ‘music’ was very questionable. The red mech much preferred some smooth jazz, instead of the base drops and fast-paced beats that plagued Soundwave’s song choices.

“How about you let me look you over first, then I’ll explain” Knockout suggested. He received a curious nod from each of the children, whose eyes remained locked on the blue mech behind him. Breakdown straightened himself up, data pads in hand, and cleared his vocalizer. 

“Brilliant idea,” he said, returning to the work station. 

All in all, it took the medic about 30 minutes to check over all the children. He scanned them quickly with a small device that was usually used to look at electrical signals in cybertronians, using it instead to check their systems didn’t have any strange fluctuations. His sensors weren’t picking up any irregular radiation from the humans, as far as he could tell, and all their limbs still had full ranges of movement. He remained silent throughout all of his examinations, leaving the kids to chat idly about nothing between themselves. 

Jack stared up at the doctor, who looked about as disgruntled as it was possible for a giant alien robot to look, as the cherry red mech asked the children each to spit into some test tubes, all of which were about the same size as Rafael’s entire body. Hesitantly, Jack covered his mouth with his hand and spat into one of the tubes. Raf and Miko followed suit, but not before Miko hummed loudly into the tube and giggled at the strange didgeridoo like noise that it made. Smiling gratefully, Knockout took the three tubes, stoppered them, and turned to a nearby workspace, against which Breakdown was leaning. 

“You done, sweetspark?” the blue mech asked quietly. 

“Yeah” Knockout replied, unstoppering the tubes and adding some chemicals to each of the tubes before placing them in a nearby machine. “Now the real fun starts, Mr awkward. You wanna explain what a conjunx is?”

“I’m sure you’re more than capable” Breakdown replied flatly, grimacing slightly. “I’m not so good with all that… stuff” Knockout chuckled, turned away from the workbench and walked back towards the children, who were now wandering around on the medical berth. 

“Right then” Knockout began, bending down next to the children. “Question and answer time.” Those words obviously caught the humans’ attention, as they all turned to the mech immediately. 

“Yeah man, spill the beans on your lingo” Miko exclaimed. 

“I have no clue what that means” Knockout stated, staring at the girl, slightly bewildered. Jack sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Ignore her, go on,” said Jack, nudging his bubbly companion and receiving an annoyed grumble in return.

“Okay, well” Knockout continued. “So, conjunx is short for conjunx endura, which is what one would call their partner. It is the formal name for a union between two cybertronians who care deeply for one another. it’s a lifelong commitment to another being that nothing can break. It-“

“So, its like marriage” interrupted Miko. “You guys are like, all loved up?”

“Loved up? You betcha” Knockout replied, winking at the children. “But what’s a marriage?”

“It means you want to spend the rest of your lives together, and you love each other, and they’re your favourite person ever, and you want to spend all your time with them!” Miko practically yelled, moving closer and closer to the bot crouched before her. “So, you guys love each other? And you have giant alien cuddles and kisses!”

“Yes, yes we do” Knockout returned, a smirk covering his faceplate as he watched the girl squeal before him. 

“Oh my god! That’s so cute!” Miko clapped her hands together, “Is that why Breaky got so flustered earlier? Awww, were you embarrassed?” Behind the conversation, Breakdown shuffled on his pedes and hastily moved to poke at another machine. 

“Breakdown isn’t so good with the whole romance thing” Knockout explained, glancing fondly at his conjunx. “But I have more than enough flirt for the both of us, don’t I, Break?”

“If you say so,” Breakdown grumbled, still staring at the workbench in front of him and prodding various medical instruments. “It’s just a thing…”

“Whatever you say sweetspark” Knockout purred. He shot a cheeky look at the children before standing back up and stealthily approaching his partner. Breakdown stiffened in shock, as the smaller mech slid his arms around his hips, and turned his head to glare at the smaller mech. Knockout stretched up onto his pedetips and whispered something too quiet to be heard by the children. Whatever he said caused Breakdown to relax slightly, let out an intake of air, and shake his head. Knockout retracted his arms and turned back to the children.

“He’s a good con really” Knockout chuckled, causing Breakdown to roll his optics. 

“Are there any other conjux enduarna on board?” asked Miko.

“Conjunx en-du-ra” Knockout corrected her. “And no. There was arachnid- Hey! “ Breakdown quickly interrupted the medic by kicking his shin and glaring daggers at him. Knockout rolled his optics at the other mech, then turned back to the children. “No. It’s just us. We’re special, aren’t we Breaky?” Knockout cooed, turning back around, pecking the blue mech on the cheek, then moving to focus on the tests that he’d run. “Well, from the looks of this, you all seem fine! I’m sure- “

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from somewhere outside the med bay, causing Knockout to cease his ramblings. The children glanced at each other, slowly moving backwards and away from the door. Breakdown instinctively shifted his servo into a hammer and moved to stand in front of his new charges, as Knockout brought out his buzzsaw and readied himself. 

For a few seconds, there were no other noises. A tense silence settled over the room. Raf stared up and Jack, who placed a single finger to his lips to tell the boy to keep quiet. Knockout shifted slightly, taking a step closer to the door. 

Just as he did so, there was another crash of metal on metal. But this time, it sounded a lot closer. Breakdown tensed and motioned for Knockout to stop moving. Muffled muttering and hasty footsteps could now be heard from outside the door, slowly approaching the room, before another loud bang sounded and the door finally opened. 

Before them, Skyquake stood with a huge smile plastered across his faceplates. His cooling fans were whirling slightly. He glanced at the occupants of the room, smile faltering slightly when he met the unimpressed look Breakdown was sending him. Retracting his Buzzsaw, Knockout grinned slightly, rolled his optics, and turned to move back towards his partner and the children. A few seconds later, Dreadwing appeared next to his brother, barging into him, with his cooling fans also going berserk. 

“Cheat!” Dreadwing muttered, bending over to brace his servos on his knees. 

“You’re just a sore loser, slowpoke” Skyquake retorted happily, readjusting himself, and stepping into the med bay. “What’re you giving us that look for?” He asked Breakdown. 

“We thought we were under attack…” Breakdown spat, annoyance lacing his words. 

“Nah, just us!” Skyquake laughed, as Dreadwing straightened back up and entered the room. Knockout shook his head, tracing a finger over Breakdown’s shoulder as he passed the larger mech, before crouching back down near the children. 

“Megatron told you to stop fighting… Especially not near the med bay! What is Knockout had been doing delicate surgery and he slipped because of you two hooligans?” Breakdown grumbled, servo transforming back to normal. “I should tell him that you’re at it again”

“No, don’t do that!” Dreadwing piped in apologetically. “Sorry, we won’t do it again. It was an accident”

“Spoilsports…” Muttered Skyquake, sticking his glossa out at his brother. “Anyway, are the humans here?” Rolling his optics, Breakdown nodded and moved to allow the children to see the newcomers. 

“Awesome! Hey there little guys!” greeted Skyquake, walking towards the children, with Dreadwing close behind him. “We come bearing gifts!” With that, the green flier produced a large black bag from his subspace. “Screamer told us to grab some stuff to make you more comfortable” Skyquake explained, sticking a servo into the bag and pulling out an entire bed frame. 

After placing said bed frame on the medical berth, so the children could examine it, his servo delved eagerly back into his bag and began pulling out various other items. Jack stared at the ‘interesting’ things that were being placed before him. There was an entire toilet, with pipes hanging out of the back of it, a pile of what appeared to be extension cables, a few lamps, with no lampshades, a sofa, and a showerhead… Well, it was a start. From the other side of the room, Knockout was beginning to look slightly unimpressed at the clutter that was being spread around his medical bay. 

“Skyquake!” Dreadwing exclaimed, as his brother continued piling their findings onto the medical berth. He gave Knockout an apologetic smile. “Scream said to take it straight to his quarters!”

“Yeah, but we’ve gotta check they like them first!” Skyquake countered, straightening up and allowing the now empty bag to fall to the floor. He grinned at the pile of items proudly. He couldn’t help but congratulate himself on doing such a great job. Surely the humans couldn’t want for anything else now, the pile was so high they couldn’t even see over it! “What do you think?”

“This is a whole load of sick stuff, Quake!” said Miko, mentally patting herself on the back for coming up with yet another awesome nickname, as she jumped onto their new patchwork sofa. “Where’d you get it all?”

“People just left it lying about!” Skyquake explained. 

“Wait, you stole it?” Jack exclaimed, surging towards the twins. “You can’t do that, that’s illegal!”

“What?” Skyquake’s wings lowered slightly, as his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “But somebody had just left it there…”

“Don’t worry, uh, Jack, right?” interrupted Dreadwing, nudging his brother out of the way and picking up Skyquake’s bag from the floor. “Starscream sent us to specific coordinates. He said you humans just left stuff there that you didn’t need anymore. So, its fair game. Plus, we had to clean all of this to get the grime off, which was gross by the way, and wade through lots of trash to get it in the first place.”

“You got it from a scrap yard?” asked Raf, watching as Dreadwing began returning their new belongings to the bag. 

“Uh, yeah I think that was what it was called” 

“Oh” mumbled Jack, “never mind then, that’s fine, I guess.” That caused Skyquake to begin smiling again.

“Awesome!” Skyquake exclaimed, grabbing his now full bag off his brother and turning towards the door. “Well, we just wanted to say hi, see ya later kiddos! Thanks for having us doc!”

“It’s a pleasure, as always, Skyquake” Knockout replied, not quite hiding his fondness for the other mech behind sarcasm. Dreadwing smiled down at the children, then at the medical team, before rushing to follow his brother. Miko stared after the two mechs, she couldn’t help but think that some of the cons actually seemed pretty cool, even if Skyquake was trying a bit too hard. 

“Right” announced Knockout, drawing attention back to him. “Now that that’s over we can-“

Before the red mech could finish that sentence, the door whooshed open once again to reveal the hulking form of Predaking. 

“Ah, sorry for interrupting” spoke the large mech, ducking down to enter the room. Knockout sighed. 

“No problem, Predaking. What can we do for you?” he asked, turning around to face the larger mech and to lean against his workbench.

“Uh, Shockwave sent me” the dragon replied, “he and Starscream would very much like the children to come and talk with them. Only if you’ve finished the medical evaluations though” Predaking dropped his gaze to where said children were still stood atop the medical berth and gave them a little wave with his clawed servo while biting his lip plating. 

“Already?” inquired Breakdown, “I thought they’d be with us all of today?”

“We had initially thought so too” Predaking explained, “But the scientists have run all the tests they can without further intervention from the humans”

“That was quick…” Murmured Breakdown. 

“Ah, well, the science bros do work in mysterious ways” Knockout responded, moving to rest a servo on the small of Breakdown’s spinal strut. “They’re all yours big guy!”

“Brilliant” Predaking thanked the medic, before moving closer to the children. Seeing Predaking up close was slightly surreal. The con, who was a murderous freak of science where they were from, was now bending down in front of them, smiling, and placing his servo flat on the berth. 

“I promise, I don’t bite” He chuckled, watching nervousness fill the eyes of the kids. “I promise, you’re safe with me. It’s not a long walk, but we can stop at any time if you feel uncomfortable.” 

Nodding, Jack began to climb on, with Miko hastily clambering on after him. Raf watched Predaking’s eyes follow his companions, as they got themselves comfy in his servo. There was something there that the boy couldn’t quite put his finger on. Nothing negative. Like some kind of fondness, or kindness mixed with glee. It was odd, the massive con seemed to literally be a big friendly giant, Raf mused. Shaking his head slightly, he followed his companions onto the giant servo and chose to sit down, as the mech began standing up. 

“Thanks for everything, Knockout!” Jack shouted quickly, as he and his companions were carried out of the room. “And you too Breakdown.”

“No problem little guy” Knockout returned, nudging a vacant Breakdown on the shoulder. 

“Yeah, see you kids, have a good day”

Predaking nodded politely at the bots, before turning to leave the med bay, humans in tow. Behind him, the doors closed swiftly. His heavy footsteps echoed off the metal walls as he began moving down a cavernous purple hallway. Jack stared around at the walls around him absently mindedly as Miko and Raf chatted, quite happily, to the now jolly bot who was carrying them. Despite being in the clutches of an apex predator, whose species died out millions of year ago, Jack felt almost as calm as he did when stood beside Arcee. 

Maybe it really wasn’t going to be so bad here after all…


End file.
